Breath of Yesterday (The Curse Series) Read Free Page A

little Sam.”
    I knew that he was only trying to change the subject, but I still blushed at his words.
    “As if!” I protested. “Don’t blame me if you’re not feeling too hot.”
    He seemed to be feeling better already, because he got up and started picking up his clothes. That was a sensible thing to do since it was almost eight o’clock. In an hour, Kim would descend on the house with her “party evidence removal team” to clear away as much of the mess as possible before my parents returned. Especially given the most recent events—most of which they luckily knew only little about—I thought it was cool on their part to leave me the house for my birthday party. But in return they had requested that everything be back in its place by noon. Which was what we needed to focus on right now.

    I was loading the rest of the glasses into the dishwasher when Sean dropped in through the back door. Content to see that his help was no longer needed, he slumped into an armchair.
    “You guys have been busy this morning.” He nodded approvingly.
    “Well, you could have come a bit earlier and helped us pick up.” I couldn’t help giving a snap reply when it was obviously on purpose that he only turned up now. “Kim and the others have already left. We’re as good as done.”
    “Sure, sure, I could have, but then I didn’t want to,” he quipped, giving me a mischievous wink that charmed a smile out of me.
    “Where’s the little guy?” he asked jokingly. Even though Payton was a few years younger than Sean, the brothers were both of considerable height.
    I used my elbow to point at the stairway while I continued cleaning the big chili pot.
    “Upstairs. He’s taking the fairy lights up to the attic and should be back in a minute.”
    “Good, because now that he’s feeling better, I wanted to drive up to Ashley Bennett’s for a couple of days.”
    “Really? I had no idea you guys were getting serious.”
    Sean shrugged. “Yeah, well, I thought it was only this strange situation that had brought us closer together, but we’re getting along really well. We call each other every day. To be honest, I miss her.”
    I couldn’t really relate to someone missing Cousin Ashley. After all, her annual visit during the summer holidays was one of the main reasons I’d wanted to go on that student-exchange trip to Scotland in the first place. I didn’t like having to share my bedroom every single summer.
    But by now Ashley and I were getting on pretty well. It was all my fault that she’d been dragged into this crazy story with the curse. Payton’s friends, who were all under the curse, had kidnapped Ashley because they thought that the blood of the Camerons was running through her veins, too, which wasn’t true. Sean had managed to avert the worst from happening. When he met Ashley, the curse in him had already weakened, and in my mind that was why he was blinded by her beauty. After all those years he had spent without feelings or emotions, any woman probably could have won his heart.
    But maybe I was wrong, because Sean seemed to truly mean what he said.
    “Don’t worry, I’ll look after Payton. The wound seems to be healing well.”
    For a split second I thought I saw Sean’s eyes darken as if he were hiding something from me, but a moment later I was sure I had only imagined it.
    Footsteps coming down the stairway announced Payton’s return from the attic, and immediately my heart beat faster. After last night I longed for him even more than during the whole time we were separated because of the curse. A few words of swearing in Gaelic followed by a loud rumble jolted me from my daydream.
    Before I could even react, Sean had jumped up and rushed into the hallway. I let the big chili pot slide back into the sink and hurried after him.
    Payton lay motionless at the foot of the stairwell. His brother knelt beside him, tearing open his shirt and checking his wound.
    I froze in helpless shock while Sean carefully